MP 2: Poem #2

The Death of a Solider

Life contracts and death is expected,
As in season of autumn.
The soldier falls.

He does not become a three-days personage.
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.                                                                        
Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops,

When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction. 

Wallace Stevens #281  (p 334)

In the poem Death of a Soldier by Walter Stevens, Stevens uses the literary technique of metaphor throughout the poem by comparing the death of a soldier to the season of autumn.  This is shown in lines 1-3, "Life is contracted and death is expected in the season of autumn. The line, "The soldier falls" shows this because during the season of autumn the leaves "fall" from the trees as they die. In line 4, "he does not become a three-days personage" is a metaphor comparing the soldier to a funeral.  Since funerals and memorials are sometimes three days in some cases, this line is expressing how soldiers do not get this treatment and memorial when they die. This concept is also expressed in line 7, "Death is absolute and without memorial." Another technique that Stevens uses in this poem is repetition. He uses the repetition of the words autumn and soldier (Title,2,3,8) once again inferring the comparison between the two. I believe that this poem has a very deep opinion rooted behind it's simple context and language. Autumn is the season leading into winter when everything begins to die off and no one really takes notice of anything around them because they are so involved within their own lives. Stevens infers that its the same way with soldiers, as he compares the soldiers dying to something as common as falling leaves in the season of autumn. The deep rooted message is that people do not really realize that the soldiers are dying and tend to go on with their every day lives inserting, "the clouds go, nevertheless, in their direction." Personally, I believe that this could be using metaphor comparing the everyday people to clouds as they do not even notice how the destruction of human lives is going on to help them live the liberty filled lives that they do continue living.